After completing my reading of Andrea Wulf‘s award-winning – and justly so – The Invention of Nature; Alexander von Humboldt’s New World, I not surprisingly found myself wanting to take up some of the works of von Humboldt himself. Unfortunately, as my French is very rusty from decades of neglect and my German all but non-existent save those few helpful phrases that most any traveler acquires (“Wo ist die Toilette,” etc.), I am limited to reading English translations of his writings. And here my troubles began.
While von Humboldt was once one of the most widely read authors in the world, just as with the works of so many other naturalists of days gone by, books about him are now more easily found than books by him. Nevertheless, thanks to the perseverance of a few university presses, it is possible still to obtain at least some of his works (or at least portions thereof) in English translations. Therefore for the benefit of any so interested, the following list is offered as a guide.
“Views of the Cordilleras”
Views of the Cordilleras and Monuments of the Indigenous Peoples of the Americas (Critical Edition), edited and translated by Vera M. Kutzinski and Ottmar Ette; University of Chicago Press, Alexander von Humboldt in English series.
Researches, Concerning the Institutions and Monuments of the Ancient Inhabitants of America with Descriptions and Views of Some of the Most Striking Scenes in the Cordilleras! (2 Volume Paperback Set), translated by Helen Maria Williams; Cambridge University Press, part of The Cambridge Library Collection – Latin American Studies, likely a print on demand edition.
Personal Narrative
Personal Narrative of Travels to the Equinoctial Regions of the New Continent During the Years 1799–1804 (7 Volume Set), translated by Helen Maria Williams; Cambridge University Press, part of The Cambridge Library Collection – Latin American Studies, likely a print on demand edition. It appears that each volume may also be purchased individually as well.
Personal Narrative of a Journey to the Equinoctial Regions of the New Continent (Abridged Edition), with an introduction by Jason Wilson and Malcolm Nicolson, translated and abridged by Jason Wilson, Penguin Random House, Penguin Classics series.
Cosmos
Cosmos; Sketch of a Physical Description of the Universe (2 Volume Paperback Set), translated by Edward Sabine; Cambridge University Press, part of The Cambridge Library Collection – Physical Sciences. A digital reprint of the Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans / John Murray edition of 1848; likely a print on demand edition.
Cosmos; A Sketch of the Physical Description of the Universe, Volume 1, with an introduction by Nicolaas A. Rupke; Johns Hopkins University Press (this edition reprints the Harper & Brothers edition, published in New York in 1858-59). There also appears to have been simultaneous publication by the Press of volume 2, however that now seems to be out of print.
English Translations of Other Works
Selected Writings, edited by Andrea Wulf; coming in November 2018 from Penguin Random House, Everyman’s Library series. Includes selections from Personal Narrative of Travels to the Equinoctial Regions of the New Continent (1814–29), Essay on the Geography of Plants (1807), Views of Nature (1849), Views of the Cordilleras and Monuments of the Indigenous Peoples of the Americas (1810–13), Political Essay on the Island of Cuba (1826) , and Cosmos. Sketch of a Physical Description of the Universe (1845–61).
Political Essay on the Kingdom of New Spain (2 Volume Set), translated by John Black; Cambridge University Press, part of The Cambridge Library Collection – Latin American Studies; likely a print on demand edition.
Essay on the Geography of Plants (written with Aimé Bonpland), edited and with an introduction by Stephen T. Jackson, and translated by Sylvie Romanowski; University of Chicago Press.
Political Essay on the Island of Cuba (Critical Edition), edited and translated by Vera M. Kutzinski and Ottmar Ette; University of Chicago Press, Alexander von Humboldt in English series.
Views of Nature, edited by Stephen T. Jackson and Laura Dassow Walls, translated by Mark W. Person; University of Chicago Press (possibly part of the Alexander von Humboldt in English series).
